How Stanford Made Me Appreciate Art More

I talk about Stanford quite a lot—I really like being here!—and since I’m a computer science major, that means I mainly talk about computer-related stuff. For example, I suspect that all my friends have heard of Stanford’s highlyrespectedComputerSciencedepartment by now. But lately I find myself talking less about computers and more about art—and I’m pretty sure I know why.

In fact, my proximity to the performances has encouraged me to explore new genres of art of which I’d would otherwise be wary. For example, before coming to Stanford, I’d seen a grand total of one musical in my entire life: Disney’s Lion King on Broadway (when I was a little kid.) Since living in Toyon, I’ve seen two this year alone—1776 (in San Francisco) and My Fair Lady. 1776 is one of several musicals that my RF’s subsidize—my dorm has also gone to see The Book of Mormon and we’re going to see Mamma Mia in a few weeks.

I have to give a special shoutout to My Fair Lady—it was completely student-produced and it was amazing. And my RA, Asia Chiao ’15, put in HOURS of work designing the costumes for the musical—and you could tell. It was great.

So yeah, living in Toyon has made me really start enjoying the arts. In fact, I’m thinking about taking a visit to Cantor Arts Center the next time I get some free time. The arts are great!